PARTICIPANTS of the re-enactment of the Battle of Grahams-town decided to soldier on despite parts of the event having to be cancelled due to the municipal strike.
Basil Mills, the organiser of the re-enactment, said he had to make cancellations “in every direction”.
PARTICIPANTS of the re-enactment of the Battle of Grahams-town decided to soldier on despite parts of the event having to be cancelled due to the municipal strike.
Basil Mills, the organiser of the re-enactment, said he had to make cancellations “in every direction”.
The municipality usually helps to organise the event but due to the strike, there would have been no one to help set up things such as chairs and tents and to clean up afterwards.
Tour groups and airline tickets for people travelling from East London, Cape Town and Pretoria to form part of the re-enactment group also had to be cancelled.
The cannon was set off at Egazini Memorial Monument at 3.30pm yesterday. Ingrid Newman, a direct relative of Elizabeth Salt, who was a heroine during the 1819 war between the British and Xhosa people, paid her respects to those who had died in the war.
Newman played the part of Salt who was a British soldier’s wife who played a significant role in the war.
When she heard that part of the regiment had run out of gunpowder, she smuggled a small barrel full of it in her bodice to give the impression that she was pregnant.
She then crossed the border to get to the British base, knowing that the Xhosa people would not attack a woman or a child.
She then handed over the keg to the British soldiers, who subsequently won the battle. Newman said “I got thinking about what brought my family here [to Grahams-town].
When you grow up with the legend of Elizabeth Salt you can’t help feeling a sense of karmic debt. It opens up a door of curiosity. I came here to say thank you because if she had died, I wouldn’t have my beautiful children.”
Mills played the part of Colonel Tiger Wilshire, a British officer. Mills said he decided to hold a service at Egazini as “we need to remember the fallen British soldiers and Xhosa warriors who have died.
“We felt we must pay some respect and we wanted to show Salt’s relatives that Grahamstown is proud of its heritage”.
